Authentic leadership and innovation behaviour among nurses in China: A mediation model of work engagement

Aim The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of authentic leadership on nurses' innovation behaviour and the mediating role of work engagement. Background Encouraging nurses to generate more innovation behaviours has become an important development direction for improving the quality of nursing services. Method We employed a self‐report questionnaire to collect data in Jinan City, China. A total of 2018 valid surveys were obtained. Hierarchical multiple regression model analysis was conducted to test the study hypothesis. Result The mean values of authentic leadership were 55.72 and 35.29, respectively. It shows that nurses can perceive the authenticity of managers, and their innovation behaviours need to be improved. Work engagement was found to have partially mediating effect on the relationship between authentic leadership and innovation behaviour. Conclusion Results suggest the importance of developing nurse managers' authentic leadership to foster nurses' work engagement and innovation behaviour. Implications for nursing management Hospitals should enhance authentic leadership by designing leadership training programmes and establishing authentic culture. In addition, nursing managers can also foster nursing innovation through improvements in work engagement. The study data were collected via questionnaires, and we sent out questionnaires with informed consent forms to the study subjects. All valid subjects signed the consent forms and agreed to join this study. In addition, the questionnaires were collected anonymously, and all the subjects’ information is strictly confidential. More importantly, the data are only used for research and do not involve any commercial interests.